Beastly King (Yu-Gi-Oh fanfic Puzzleshipping/Blindshipping)

The Castle (4)

I don't own Beastly or Yu-Gi-Oh

    That night, for the first time since moving to downtown Domino, I went out onto the street. I waited until night, and even though it was early October, I wore a big coat with a hood, which I pulled up over my face. I wrapped a scarf around my chin and cheeks. I walked close to the buildings, turning so people wouldn’t see me, ducking into alleys to avoid coming too close to anyone. I shouldn’t have to do this, I thought. I am Atem Sennen. I’m someone special. I shouldn’t have been reduced to skulking in alleyways, hiding behind garbage Dumpsters, waiting for some stranger to yell, “Monster.” I should have been with people. Yet, I hid and ducked and skulked and luckily went unnoticed. That was the weird thing. No one noticed me, even those who seemed to look right at me. Unreal.
    I knew where I wanted to go. Rafael Mau, from my class at the Academy, had the hottest parties at his parents’ place in Domino when they were away. I’d been watching the mirror, so I knew they’d be away this weekend. I couldn’t go to the party—not as a stranger, and certainly not as myself, as Atem Sennen reduced to nothing.
    But I thought that maybe—just maybe—I could stand outside the party and watch people going in and out. I could watch them from 'my tower', sure. But I wanted to be there. No one would recognize me. My only risk was that maybe someone would see me, that I would be captured, held as a monster, maybe made a zoo creature. Not a small risk. But my loneliness made me brave. I could do it.
    And still, people passed me, seeming to look, but not seeing me.
    Did I dare take the subway? I did dare. It was the only way. I found the station I’d seen so many times from my window, and pushing back once again the thought of being placed in a zoo and having my friends come there on field trips to see me, I bought a MetroCard and waited for the next train.
    When it arrived, it wasn’t crowded. Rush hour was over. Still, I sat away from the other passengers, taking the worst seat in back. I faced the window. Even so, a woman in a nearby seat moved away when I sat. I watched her, reflected in the windowpane, as she passed me, holding her breath. She would have been able to see my animal reflection if she’d looked. But she didn’t, just walked, lurching against the movement of the train, wrinkling her nose as if she smelled something bad. She went to the farthest part of the car to sit, but she didn’t say anything.
    Then I figured it out. Of course! It was warm. In my heavy coat and scarf, I looked like a homeless person. That’s what they thought I was, the people on the street and the train. That’s why they hadn’t looked at me. No one looked at the homeless. I was invisible. I could walk the streets, and as long as I kept my face sort of hidden, no one would notice me. It was freedom, in a way.
    Braver, I looked around. Sure enough, not one eye met mine. Everyone looked at their books, or their friends, or just…away.

    I got to Spring Street and got out, not so carefully this time. I made my way along the brighter streets, pulling my scarf closer around my neck, ignoring the suffocating feeling of it, and staying to the side. My big fear was Vivian seeing me. If she’d made the mistake of telling anyone about me, they’d have made fun of her for sure. And then she’d be eager to point me out to them, so they’d know she wasn’t lying.
    I got to Rafael’s apartment. It had a doorman, so I couldn’t go in the lobby. I didn’t want to anyway, didn’t want to deal with the light, the faces, the fact that the party was going on without me, like I didn’t matter. There was a large planter by the door. I waited until no one was near, then slid down, making myself comfortable beside it. A familiar scent filled the air, and I glanced up at the planter. Red roses. Ryou would have been proud of me for noticing.
    The party had probably started around eight, but even at nine, the late arrivals poured in. I watched like the party was a hidden-camera TV show, seeing the things I wasn’t meant to see, the girls pulling the underwear from their butts, or slipping a last dose of something before entering the building, the guys talking about what they had in their pockets and who they’d use them on. I could have sworn a few of my friends looked right at me, but no one saw me. No one screamed, “Monster!” No one even seemed to notice. It felt good, yet bad at the same time.
    And then she was there. Sloane. She was liplocked with Sullivan Clinton, one of last year’s juniors, in a major Public Display of Affection unfolding before my eyes like an R-rated movie. They could do it in front of me because I was, once again, invisible. I started to wonder if maybe I really was. Finally, they went inside.
    That was how the night went. People came. People left. Around midnight, tired and way too hot, I thought about leaving. But that was when I heard a familiar voice from the steps above my head.
    “Wild party, huh?” It was Marik.
    He was with another former friend of mine, Bakura Shi. “The best,” Bakura said. “Even better than the one last year.”
    “Which one was last year?” Marik said. “I was probably too trashed to remember.”
    I hunkered farther down, wishing they’d leave. Then I heard my name.

“You know,” Bakura said. “Last year—the one where Atem Sennen brought that skanky girl who spent half the night with her hand in his pants.”
    Marik laughed. “Atem Sennen—a name from the past. Good old Pharaoh.”
    I felt myself smile and get even warmer in my long coat.
    “Yeah, what ever happened to him?” Bakura said even though his voice sounded half bored.
    “Went to boarding school.”
    “Guess he thought he was too good for us, huh?”
    I stared at them, especially Marik, waiting to see him defend me.
    “Wouldn’t surprise me,” Marik said. “He always thought he was so big when he was here—Mr. My-Tou-san-Owns-a-Company.”
    “What a putz.”
    “Yeah. I’m glad that guy’s gone,” Marik said.
    I turned my face away from them. Finally, they walked away.
    My face, my ears and eyes stung. It had all been a lie—my friends at the academy. My whole life. What would people say if they saw me now—they’d hated me even when I was hot-looking. I don’t even know how I got home. No one noticed me. No one cared. Anzu had been right, about everything.

...well what can I say, everyone should have seen that one coming

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